


Twin Caretaker

by KikiTwinTai2



Category: Durarara!!
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-20
Updated: 2019-08-20
Packaged: 2020-09-19 14:54:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20328433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KikiTwinTai2/pseuds/KikiTwinTai2
Summary: Izaya gets a call from the school that the twins are sick. He may not be a good person, but he is a good big brother, no matter what anyone else says.





	Twin Caretaker

**Author's Note:**

> There is a sad lack of big brother Izaya fics, and that needs to be remedied. Also I have a serious weakness for family sickfics, and so this was born. Enjoy!

When Izaya felt one of his numerous phones buzzing in his pocket, his first thought was to ignore it. After already being chased halfway across the city by Shizu-chan, he was in no mood to leave the house, yet alone journey back into Ikebukuro.

The phone kept insistently buzzing, however, making even Namie look up, irritated.

“Are you gonna take that or not?” she asked. “It could be a client.”

“It’s not,” he answered brusquely.

Namie didn’t ask how he knew. Even in her phone, she had contacts programmed with different ringtones to allow her to discern the caller, so it would hardly surprise her to learn that Izaya did the same. Hell, with how many cell phones the man had, it would be far more of a surprise if he _didn’t_. Knowing him, he could have programmed them all to buzz with the caller’s name in morse code, or something equally outrageous.

Whatever the case, it was becoming highly irritating.

“If you don’t answer that, I’m going to hit you,” she warned.

“Go ahead, I’m paying you, aren’t I?” he replied absently, still tapping away at the laptop in front of him.

With a final key tap, however, he pushed his chair back, digging into his pocket and taking out the sleek black device.

“Yes?” he answered smoothly. One eyebrow raised in the barest hint of surprise as the caller spoke. “Yes, I am. Is there a problem?”

Namie took a step forward, unconsciously trying to listen in. Izaya spun in the chair, his eyes shooting her with a fierce glare even as his voice remained silkily polite.

“Alright. I’ll be there soon. Unfortunately I’m outside the city right now, so I may be a little while. If you could tell them I’m on my way, I’d be very grateful.”

Namie gave him a look of disbelief. She knew full well that Izaya could and did switch his personality at the drop of a hat, but she had rarely heard him sound so coolly obsequious, even with Shiki-san.

“Yes. That’s no problem. Oh, don’t worry, I assure you I’m quite used to it. They’ll be back on Monday, no later. Have a nice weekend!”

With an obvious exchange of pleasantries, he ended the call and flipped the phone shut. When he turned back to Namie, his face was dark.

“Go home, and don’t come back till Monday,” he ordered. “I’ll be busy till then.”

Namie folded her arms. “With work? That wasn’t a client.”

Izaya frowned at her. “It’s none of your business,” he said.

“Well, if it wasn’t a client, that would mean it was personal. And as I happen to know that you have zero friends, the logical answer would be family. So I’m gonna take a guess and say it’s your sisters. What, they sick or something?”

Izaya looked annoyed for a moment, then broke out into laughter. “What amazing powers of deduction! Of course, such a _devoted_ sibling like you would come to that conclusion. Yes, that was the nurse from Raira. So, that leaves you free to go and stalk your beloved brother!”

Namie didn’t look impressed. “You aren’t capable of looking after yourself, let alone those two girls.”

The look Izaya shot her would have caught fire, if she wasn’t used to it. “And who do you think brought them up for the past 14 years? You of all people should know what it takes to care for children.”

“Seiji never got sick,” Namie stated. “He was so strong, even as a baby.”

Her face flushed with perverse happiness as she thought of her younger brother, one hand raising to her cheek in the beginnings of ecstasy.

“Good for you," Izaya said sardonically. "Well, you have until Monday to go and give him all the love you think he deserves. I’ll pay you, obviously. Now get out.”

“Gladly."

With a flick of her hair, she swept out without another word, eyes already gleaming with the thought of four days to lavish Seiji with love.

Sighing, Izaya turned his laptop off. There was little chance he would be able to work for the next few days, so he didn't bother taking it with him as he left the apartment.

His love for humans had only three exceptions, and his sisters were two of them. For once, he hoped _not_ to see the third.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the nurses office of Raira Academy, a young woman turned to the students in her care with a smile.

“There you go, girls! Your brother is on his way. He said he’s sorry but he’s out of town right now, so it might be a little while before he gets here. Are you two gonna be ok?”

Mairu and Kururi nodded slowly. Mairu immediately regretted the action as it made her head spin nauseatingly.

“I’m gonna be sick,” she muttered, burying her head in her sister’s shoulder.

“Bowl,” Kururi stated, her voice for once louder than Mairu.

“Oh, gosh, sweetie, here you go!” the nurse held the cardboard out to her. Mairu only just managed to bow her head before retching into it.

“I’ll get you a glass of water,” the nurse said.

“Iza-nii (_hurry_),” Kururi said, winding her arms around Mairu and rubbing her back comfortingly.

“He better, or I’ll throw up on him too!” Mairu moaned.

The nurse returned with two glasses of water, which she held out to them both. “Drink up, girls, and then I’ll take your temperatures, ok?”

They did as instructed, trying to ignore the pain of their sore throats.

The nurse measured each of their temperatures in turn. The twins watched as her face relaxed when the device beeped for the second time.

“Well, girls, you’re both ok. You have a little fever, but this is nothing more than a bad cold. This is a school, though, so I don’t want either of you back until Monday, at least. You aren’t the first to get sent home today, and I'm certain you won't be last. Must be going around." She looked at them sympathetically. "Do you have any friends who can drop your homework off for you?”

They nodded.

“Good. Now, I’ll send someone to bring your bags to you, so you just sit tight until your brother gets here, ok?”

They nodded again. The nurse smiled at them, leaving the room briefly.

It wasn’t long before they heard voices coming from outside the room. After what sounded like the beginnings of an argument, Izaya came into the office, their bags in either hand.

“You could have told me that little brat would be the one to get your bags,” he said, sending a glare to the boy standing outside. To his credit, Aoba didn't even flinch, simply grinning back at him.

Izaya narrowed his eyes, and the boy seemed to get the message, turning on his heel and heading back to class.

Mairu turned her head toward Izaya, not raising from where she was still slumped on Kururi’s shoulder.

“Didn’t know it would be him,” she said. “Can we go home now?”

“Home, Iza-nii,” Kururi repeated. “Sleep (_need to_).”

“Yes, well come on then. There’s a taxi waiting outside.” He made a waving motion with his hand, hurrying them.

Slowly, the girls shuffled off the bed, stepping into their shoes and placing the bowl down on the table.

Izaya narrowed his eyes. “Are you likely to throw up again before we get home?”

Mairu lifted one shoulder in an approximation of a shrug. “Don’t have anything left _to_ throw up, so nope.”

It was testament to how ill she was feeling that she didn’t even attempt to hit him as he helped them put their jackets on.

Once out of the door, he flashed a winning smile to the nurse. “Don’t worry, they’ll be just fine by Monday, I promise!”

The woman nodded, smiling. “You’re a really good brother,” she said. Then, to the girls, “you two just rest up and get better, ok?”

They nodded, each now having taken positions either side of Izaya. With the hand that wasn’t holding their bags, he ushered them out of the school, giving their home address to the driver waiting for them.

It was a short drive to the Orihara family home, and thankfully both sisters made it without being sick. After paying the driver, Izaya dug his keys out of his pocket and went up to the front door.

Why he even still _had_ keys to his family home, even he didn’t quite know.

The house was silent, as usual. For a moment, Izaya debated sending a message to their parents, before deciding against it. Shirou and Kyouko Orihara had rarely bothered to be involved in their children’s lives before, so why start now?

Instead, he instructed both girls to go upstairs and change out of their uniforms. He made his way into the kitchen, glancing round in the briefest moment of familiarity.

Nothing had changed. He opened cupboards and drawers without thought, letting his body take over as he started cooking.

He heard the toilet flush, and curled his lip in a grimace. If they were sick, chances were he would get it sooner or later too, and that was something he could really do without.

A few minutes later they appeared in the doorway, both dressed in matching pyjamas and clutching each other’s hands.

“Sit down.” He glanced over at them, noting the flush of their faces. If he was right, and he knew he would be, he would have to go out shopping soon. Neither of them had been sick in a while, so the medicine cabinet in the bathroom would undoubtedly need restocking.

He turned the gas off, setting the plates on a tray and carrying it over to them.

“Eat as much as you can. Slowly, or you’ll just throw up again,” he warned.

Both girls looked pale at the thought of food, but they perked up at the smell of the broth.

He hadn’t expected them to finish it all, and simply waited while they pushed their bowls away and sat with hunched heads.

“Go and lie down,” he ordered.

They did so, and he heard the low hum of the TV as one of them turned it on, flicking through channels until they found something they liked. Knowing them, it would be one of their anime shows, or anything with Kasuka Heiwajima in.

At the thought of his arch-enemy’s brother, Izaya grimaced. He would have to go shopping soon, and knowing his ability to find the protozoan whenever he was in the city, he would have to be very careful.

He could just send Celty a list of ingredients, but she would inevitably tell Shinra, and given the mad scientist’s inability to keep his mouth shut, that was a risk he just couldn’t take.

He loaded the dishwasher, thankful for once that their parents had decided on a western house to ‘make things easier on him’ when they were away. It would have been much easier on him to have them actually be there instead of leaving him to raise the twins on his own, but that was that.

Coffee in hand, he wandered into the room. The twins were lying on the couch, curled in to each other and shivering.

Izaya shook his head, setting the cup down and going upstairs. He returned with the thickest blanket he could find, throwing it over them and tucking it in.

“You could have done this yourself, idiots,” he muttered.

On the edge of sleep, Kururi opened her eyes a fraction to peer up at him.

“Iza-nii (_do it)_,” she mumbled.

“Yeah, well, don’t bet on it again,” he said. “One day I won’t be here to come running. Go to sleep.”

Satisfied, the elder twin closed her eyes, gripping the edge of the blanket and turning her head back to her sister. Mairu didn’t stir, already asleep.

Izaya picked up the remote, turning the TV off. He wished he had taken his laptop now, since without it, he was limited to what he could do on his phone. Turning the screen on, he replied to what messages he could, setting up contacts and beginning to investigate for his latest jobs.

As always, he made sure that his phone could not be traced to the house. Not that he was concerned for his sister’s safety, since they had already proved that they were perfectly able of defending themselves with the martial arts lessons he still paid for. He suspected that Mikage would probably be happy to teach them for free if they were going to practice what they learned on him, but she still took his money all the same.

He knew it still didn’t make up for what he had done to her, but he was long past asking forgiveness from anyone. If teaching his little sisters how to defend themselves from the trouble his work exposed them to gave her some measure of happiness, then it was a price worth paying.

What a messed up place the city was, after all.

Digging in the medicine cabinet had at least revealed a thermometer in working order, if no actual medicine. Once the twins woke up, he took both of their temperatures, not happy when he saw the numbers on the screen.

“What was your temperature when the nurse took it?” he asked them.

Kururi told him, making him swear under his breath.

“Ok. You need something to bring your fever down, and we don’t have anything. Stay here while I go shopping. Don’t answer the door, and don’t do anything stupid.”

“As if we were likely to,” Mairu cut in, crossly. “Just hurry, stupid Iza-nii.”

Izaya arched an eyebrow at her, even knowing that it was just the fever making her irritable.

“Use your phones if you need me. I trust you can do that at least?” he goaded them.

“Iza-nii hurry,” Kururi echoed. “Food (_get some_).”

“Ice cream,” Mairu demanded.

“You aren’t getting anything unless I know you can keep it down,” he responded. “Here.” He placed a bowl on the table in front of them. “Use that if you can’t make it to the toilet. I’m not cleaning up if you throw up on the carpet.”

“You should be used to it,” she quipped.

“And you should be lucky that I'm even here to have had to get used to it," he spat back. "So as long as I’m here, you do what I say. Now sit down, and don’t move till I get back. Kururi, look after your sister.”

The girl nodded. “Mairu. Sleep.”

Her twin huffed, but as always could never refuse her sister.

“Good. At least I can trust one of you to be sensible. I won’t be long.”

He grabbed his jacket, slinging his keys and phone into his pocket and hoping he wouldn’t run into anyone.

Who was he kidding. This was Ikebukuro, after all.

Of all the places to run into his arch-enemy, it wasn’t until he got to the convenience store that he saw the familiar mop of blond hair.

Thankfully, Tom was with him. The dreadlocked man was just about the only person who could temper Shizuo.

Still, he made an effort to stay unnoticed, drifting through the aisles unobtrusively. One benefit to being an information broker was that unlike Shizuo, his work relied on anonymity in person, making sure that he was relatively unrecognisable while in public.

Shizuo looked up, sniffing the air like a hound, and all Izaya’s hopes went up in flames.

“I smell shit,” the blond said to Tom.

The other man raised an eyebrow. “You stepped on something?” he joked dryly.

Shizuo glared at him. He pivoted on one heel, his eyes scanning behind the sunglasses sharply.

His face darkened with malicious glee as his gaze zeroed in.

“IIIZZAAAAAYAAAAAAA,” he begun.

Deciding to just get it over with, Izaya skipped over.

“Hello, Shizu-chan, Tom. For once, I don’t have time to fight you. I’m on short timing right now, so you’ll have to find someone else to fight. Next time, I promise I’ll _truly_ fight you. But, not until Monday at least. Busy plans, you know?”

He turned around quickly, hoping it was enough to shock the blond into silence.

“Why until Monday? You got a date or something?” Tom asked, sounding genuinely curious.

“I love humans, so that would simply be unfair, wouldn’t it?” Izaya answered.

“Like anyone could love _you_, shitty flea.” Shizou seemed to have recovered his voice, and stood glaring at him dangerously.

“They don’t. I wouldn’t expect anyone to, and I wouldn’t want them to,” Izaya said.

Tom didn’t look convinced. “You must love _some_ people, surely?” he wondered. “Your family, at least?” He frowned, thinking. “Do you even _have_ parents?”

Izaya’s eyes glinted. “Oh, I have them. They just decided that working was more important than their children, so they left them for me to take care of at the tender age of nine years old," he said, delighting in the look of horror on Tom's face. He continued, maliciously. "In fact, they’re sitting at home right now, waiting for me to get back to them. So if that’s all, Shizu-chan, get out of my way. I don’t have time for a protozoan like you right now.”

Shizou blinked in surprise. He glanced down at the basket in Izaya’s hands, taking in the sight of the medicine and food stacked there, and put two and two together.

“The twins are sick?” he said, dumbly.

Izaya’s glare narrowed. “Not that it matters to _you_. I got a call from Raira this morning. So, as you’re such a shining example of a big brother, you can just trot along and keep working.”

He pushed past them, only slightly surprised that Shizou did indeed let him past.

“Does Shinra know?” he asked suddenly.

Izaya turned back around, face inscrutable. “They aren’t that sick. It’s just a bad cold. They’ve had far worse, believe me.” The flippant way he said it was utterly at odds with the guilt that it invoked in his listeners.

For once, Shizou could say nothing. The expression on Izaya’s face proved that he was speaking the truth.

He suddenly realised that there was a lot he didn’t know about the flea. He and Kasuka had had a loving, happy home life, even with his violence and tendency to break his bones.

What must life have been like for Izaya, left at nine years old to take care of two young children? What kind of parents even did that?

He was surprised to find a thread of pity beginning to unfurl in him, and snapped it viciously. No matter how shitty his childhood may have been, the man was an ass now, and delighted in it too. He didn't deserve any sympathy from Shizuo.

“Oh. Well, come on then, Shizuo. Let him get back to his sisters. We still have work to do, anyway.” Tom took hold of Shizou’s arm, all but dragging him away. To both their surprise, the blond let him, choosing to ignore Izaya completely.

Izaya nodded to Tom, once, in as much of thanks as he could give.

With the shopping done, he hurried back. Thankfully, he was greeted with silence once more when he entered. He put away the groceries quickly, then filled two glasses with water, setting them on a tray with the medicine.

He found the girls on the sofa, both hunched over. Kururi looked like she was about to faint, her head clutched in her hands and Mairu rubbing her back in a reversal of how they had been in the morning. The bowl was on the floor between their legs, Kururi obviously having been sick as well.

“You’re home!” Mairu said. Her face was pale, almost white save for the high flush on her cheeks. “Kuru-nee is worse.” Her voice was worried. “I was just about to phone you.”

Her voice raised in volume, crying as it hurt her throat but continuing anyway.

“You said you wouldn’t be long, but you were! Kuru-nee was sick but she tried to hold it back till you came home so you wouldn’t be mad! Stupid, stupid pig-brain Iza-nii!”

She dissolved into tears, hiccupping and gasping and trying to hit him, weakly. He ignored her, moving the bowl out of the way with a grimace.

“Move over,” he ordered. She did so, letting him help Kururi sit back. Her face was flushed, breathing stuffy and laboured.

“Iza-nii,” she murmured, voice barely more than a whisper.

“Here, drink this,” he said, holding the cup out to her. “Mairu, you too.”

Both girls swallowed the pills without complaint. Izaya checked his phone, making a note of the time.

“That should help bring your fever down. You can have more later, but you need to rest. Go and get into bed.”

Mairu lifted her arms up to him, grinning as sadistically as possible, which wasn’t much.

“Carry me,” she ordered.

Izaya raised an eyebrow. “You can walk. And I can’t lift you.”

Mairu pouted. “You’re weak,” she told him, but got up from the sofa reluctantly.

“Who’s weaker right now?” he shot back as he marched them upstairs to their room. Kururi followed, dragging the blanket with her like a cape.

“You shouldn’t be mean to sick people,” Mairu said. “It’s not nice.”

“Yes, well, I’m not nice, am I?”

“Iza-nii nice,” Kururi mumbled behind him.

“I’m not nice, I’m taking care of you because I’m your legal guardian and the school would investigate me if I didn’t.” He opened their bedroom door, rolling his eyes at the mess of two teenage girls strewn around the room.

“You’re horrible and we hate you,” Mairu whined as she slid beneath the covers. Kururi curled up next to her, closing her eyes.

“Good. I hate you too,” he replied. “Now go to sleep.”

“I’m not tired.”

“Really,” Izaya deadpanned.

Mairu opened her mouth to argue, but whatever she was going to say was cut off with a yawn. Izaya raised an eyebrow triumphantly.

“Mairu, quiet,” Kururi ordered. “Tired.”

That shut her up. Grumbling, she lay back down next to her sister, sticking her tongue out at Izaya.

“Just go to sleep, both of you,” he muttered.

He collected the bowl from downstairs, taking it into the bathroom and flushing its contents away, then rinsed it out thoroughly. He put the rest of the medicine in the cabinet, sorted it, then took a pair of cloths out of the cupboard. Taking them downstairs, he filled a bowl with cool water and placed the cloths in it.

His sisters didn’t stir as he wrung out the cloths and placed them on their foreheads.

“Still hate you,” Mairu mumbled, on the edge of sleep.

“Yeah, I love you too,” he said.

Looking down at their sleeping faces, Izaya couldn’t help but think of how many times he had done this before. His parents _did _care for them, even if they had a strange way of showing it. And really, they were no worse than anyone else. His secretary was in love with her younger brother. Shinra was engaged to a headless figure of Celtic mythology. Shizuo would no doubt soon enough have a murderous psychopath of an actress for a sister-in-law.

This is Ikebukuro. Here in the city, there's no such thing as a normal, ideal family. What there is is your family, as weird as it may be.


End file.
